THE BEAST OF BABYLON II

When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunnaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak, so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.
...When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness in . . . , and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.


^{[The oldest known written code of laws from around 1772 BCE]}
― Hammurabi, The Code of Hammurabi

THE BEAST OF BABYLON II
^{acrylic on wood, 1984 Private collection, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada}

It was a scan which I just now reworked in Photoshop, removing dust and enhancing some areas that were not sharp. - I feel like doing another version of this piece .... some day!

It was originally sold (actually, traded for fixing, bodywork, customizing and painting my truck) in Lethbridge, but idk if the buyer still lives there. I knew his first name (Joe, I even wrote a dedication by my signature) and that he was Hungarian who at that time did custom work on vehicles.

The truck was actually not mine, but my first wife's - when we parted company 4 years later in 1988, she took the truck with her. It was a GMC 4x4, red and silver, with red custom velvet seats. It was my go-to vehicle in Winter, even at the worse cold in Canada, it would always start reliably. So I enjoyed the truck only for about 4 years.
Another trivia about this painting: many years later, I was asked to evaluate it for a divorce settlement between the owners. Seems like nothing lasts forever, except maybe this painting, somewhere ......

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on EasyZoom, you can go into the details:

^{top right icon lets you go full screen!}

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The precursor to this painting was a drawing, which I had published on the old Steemit platform (I switched the URL to PeakD):

🎨 THE BEAST OF BABYLON

This guy Joe seen the drawing and wanted me to paint it, but I told him, I never (or, rarely) repeat myself, so I can paint the theme, but different from the drawing. Eventually, the drawing was purchased by an Austrian collector, who lent it to me for display in the Phantasten Museum in Vienna, after I moved back to Austria. I still have access to it for exhibitions.

Still back in Canada though, I once ordered a couple of prints of this drawing from a shop in Montreal. But somehow they screwed up the order and the prints looked like photocopies, much too dark in contrasts. To ship them back was not practicable, because of cost, but they were printed on heavy watercolor paper, so I decided to try saving one of them and paint over it after I learned about Old Master Mische Technique, that is, painting with colored glazes. Mounted on masonite, this painting returned with me to Austria and was eventually shown in several exhibitions.

So here is the other version of "The Beast of Babylon":

Beast of Babylon
^{acrylic and egg tempera on watercolor paper, mounted on masonite - W 21" x H 28.75" - 2009
hand painted wood frame}
It was one of the paintings that were shown in the Christmas Exhibition at the
Infeld Culture Center in Halbturn, Austria - 2019

A interesting conversation on the post of the drawing made me look up another quote that fits with all three of these versions, Beasts and Beauties (and possibly a fourth one, since the theme is very interesting, and my styles have changed since these works here).

The BEAUTY AND THE BEAST? - well, sometimes looks can be deceiving.
And remember: Lucifer translates into "Shining Star".
Think of her as Éloa:
What does Éloa mean?” He narrowed his gaze, answered her literally. “It’s the name of an angel.” Penelope tilted her head, thinking. “I’ve never heard of him.” “You wouldn’t have.” “Was he a fallen angel?” “She was, yes.” He hesitated, not wanting to tell her the story, but unable to stop himself. “Lucifer tricked her into falling from heaven.” “Tricked her how?” He met her gaze. “She fell in love with him.” Penelope’s eyes widened. “Did he love her?” Like an addict loves his addiction. “The only way he knew how.” She shook her head. “How could he trick her?” “He never told her his name".
― Sarah MacLean, A Rogue by Any Other Name
That is probably a bit of a stretch, but many stories are somehow based on mythologies as ancient as Babylon. Told initially through oral histories, they are known to us as fairy tales.

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Do I know what I am doing?
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Most times I don't, and that is when I am most creative.
If you don't take that risk, the best you can do is being mediocre.

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<sup>PRINTS OF MY ARTWORK AVAILABLE HERE:



at the Fuchs Villa in Vienna</sup>

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